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Senators: ‘Backroom Deal’ Undermines Visa Program Changes

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Real Estate Roundtable reached a “backroom deal”
that would stymie real changes to the immigrant investor program, Sens. Charles Grassley
(R-Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
claim.

“We are disappointed to learn that your organizations may have recently agreed to
a secretive, backroom ‘deal’ that undercuts the many good-faith efforts we have made
during the past two years,” Grassley and Leahy said in a March 13 letter to the heads
of the two business organizations. “From what we have been told, this so-called ‘deal’
does not advance Congress’s goals for this program and instead is merely aimed at
pre-empting the new rules.”

The two senators have been at the forefront of efforts to overhaul the EB-5 program,
which allows foreign nationals to obtain green cards if they invest in projects that
create U.S. jobs. So far, Congress has enacted short-term extensions of the program
without any change.

Grassley and Leahy have called for Congress to let the program sunset absent an overhaul
and are concerned that industry lobbying may hamper their ability to reach a deal
among their colleagues. The program is set to expire April 28.

“As is fairly typical in the legislative process, stakeholders representing various
and at times competing points of view—including the Chamber, the Real Estate Roundtable,
the EB-5 Rural Alliance, and others—have been working to develop a feasible, practical
proposal that meets the goals of policymakers and the needs of our economy,” Randy
Johnson, the Chamber’s senior vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits,
said in a statement provided to Bloomberg BNA.

Recent Congressional Scrutiny

The EB-5 regional center program has been a topic of contention in recent years after
going through several congressional reauthorizations. The regional center program—currently
making up the vast majority of EB-5 investments—allows immigrants to pool their investments
and count indirect job creation toward the visa requirements.

But some lawmakers have said the program contains too many loopholes that allow for
fraud. They also argue that states have been given too much latitude to determine
what constitutes a “targeted employment area"—a rural or high-unemployment area that
allows immigrants to invest a smaller amount.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has
proposed several regulatory changes to the program, which recently garnered praise from lawmakers,
including Grassley and Leahy.

In their letter, the senators called the USCIS proposal “a step in the right direction”
but said more changes are needed from Congress. Grassley and Leahy said they’re willing
to work with industry groups on the legislation but that “our patience is wearing
thin and is not endless.”

“We just received the letter and are reviewing it,” Johnson said in his statement.
“With that said, we agree with the two Senators that the program needs to be reformed
and we have worked for more than two years with their offices and others to meet that
goal and will continue to do so.”

A representative for the Real Estate Roundtable didn’t respond to Bloomberg BNA’s
request for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura D. Francis in Washington at
lfrancis@bna.com

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